Staff Council, in conjunction with the Office of Human Resources, would like to remind benefit-eligible staff to review Paid Time Away (PTA) balances in Parnassus Employee Self-Service. Reviewing balances now will allow ample time to plan the use of vacation time before new annual grants are applied on June 1, 2014.

The most that anyone will see in their vacation balance is the maximum allowed as per our current policy (an employee’s PTA balance may not cause the balance to exceed the hours granted in a 1.5 year period). Vacation is intended to provide time off for rest and relaxation; therefore, employees may not receive pay instead of taking vacation time.

All vacation leave must be approved by the supervisor in advance and scheduled at the mutual convenience of the employee and the department.

Personal leave is for use during the current fiscal year; any unclaimed hours will be forfeited when the annual grants are applied on June 1st. Employees are required to obtain approval from the supervisor in advance before using personal time.

How to submit time if you are working on a Flexible Work Arrangement schedule:

Vacation and sick leave will reflect the hours scheduled for the workday. (For example, if you are scheduled for nine (9) hours on Monday and request vacation for the day, nine (9) hours of vacation will be recorded).

For those employees working a four day schedule, if a holiday falls on a day that the employee is not scheduled to work, that employee may revert back to a five day work week for that week to be paid for holiday pay. The employee may also take a regular scheduled day during that week, but will only be paid seven and a half or eight hours and will be required to use PTA to make the work week whole. Example: If the employee works Monday – Thursday and the holiday falls on a Monday, the employee will receive seven and a half or eight hours of holiday pay. The employee may choose to use PTA to make up the difference and make the work week whole.

Alternative schedules cannot be altered to accommodate vacation, sick, or personal time. If an employee is working a four day work week, the employee must use 9.3 or 10 hours of vacation, sick, or personal time to make the week whole.

We all work very hard in our roles here at the College – but it is equally important that we take the time that is available to us to get away from work and “recharge” our batteries to come back ready for more! We are fortunate that Ithaca College identifies the importance of PTA – our current policies are very generous when we include all of the holidays, the winter break, and the allotment of vacation, sick, and personal time. Enjoy your time!

Contact the Office of Human Resources at 4-8000 or benefits@ithaca.edu if you have further questions.

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